I should have listened. I always told him that eventually, the boy who cried wolf would see a wolf, but no one would believe him. After years of microchips and alien brainwaves and subversive government plots, no one listened to my brother anymore. And now, he was gone.

He had called me several times over the past few days, but work was overwhelming, and I just didn’t have time to listen to his insane ramblings. Now I was kicking myself. His messages sounded scared. Not “I smoked too much weed” scared. More like “I have been having an affair with a drug kingpins wife” scared.

Playing back his voicemails, she heard panic. “Someone is following me. I can feel it. I’m scared, Erin. I can’t see them, but no matter where I am, I can feel someone watching me. They’re playing a game. They know they’re getting to me.”

Now, I’ve been sitting in this restaurant for an hour, and no way does Jason miss dinner if I’m paying. And no one has seen him. He hadn’t been at work, his girlfriend hadn’t heard from him all day, and his phone went didn’t to voicemail.

Glancing out the window of the restaurant, I watch the leaves of a tree across the street ripple in the breeze.

Except there is no breeze.